Colburn’s association with Cranbrook began when he visited the Institute of Science in 1932. After this visit he volunteered to fix problems the Institute was having with the display and lighting of specimens in the mineralogical room. Colburn spent a few weeks in December of 1932 working on this project. Then, in 1933, it came to his attention that there were multiple collections of mineral specimens held by the Detroit Museum of Art (now the Detroit Institute of Art) that were not being displayed due to a lack of space. Colburn obtained an indefinite loan of the collections to the Institute, and spent the majority of the summer of 1933 cataloging and displaying the new specimens. Due to these projects Colburn was offered and accepted a position on the Board of Trustees, a position he held from 1933-1944. Through his many excavations Colburn obtained several mineral specimens for the Institute, as well as a generous amount of specimens bequeathed to the Institute upon his death in 1966.